Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Alexey, The Ricoh GR 28/2.8 it an LTM (Leica thread mount) lens, usable on M cameras with an L-M adaptor. They were introduced late last summer as a limited run of 3,000 lenses (2,000 chrome/1,000 black). I still see a fair amount of new stock in local camera stores; used examples don't turn up too frequently. I think there at least 4 or 5 LUGgers who have used the lens. Tom Abrahamsson used it quite a bit, and Jeremy Kime wrote his own mini-review and loaned his to a British photo magazine for a test. I think Jeremy was trying to sell his recently. The general conscensus is that performance is very good, though not quite as good as the 3rd-4th generation Leica Elmarit 28/2.8---Jeremy reckoned it offered 95% of Elmarit performance at half the cost and size. As is often the case, the critical question is how much that extra 5% of performance is worth to you, and/or whether the smaller size and lighter weight is important. There has been another addition to the P&S-Leica lens mini-boom, with Minolta now offering their 28/3.5 lens from the TC-1 in an LTM version. The G-Rokkor 28/3.5 was announced in the local magazines maybe two months ago, and the lens has been available at retail for about a month now. At 105,000yen list and without finder, it is more expensive than the Ricoh (listed at 98,000yen including finder); production run is 2,000 units in chrome only. The Rokkor is even smaller and lighter than the Ricoh (2mm shorter and 70g lighter), having 5 elements/5 groups compared to the Ricoh's 7/4 configuration. Note that with no cemented elements, element separation is not going to be a problem as the lens ages! The Rokkor also stops down to f22 (the Ricoh only to f16), but it is slower and only has 9 diaphragm blades (the Ricoh has 10; in Japan it is believed that more blades = rounder aperture = better bokeh). Magazine tests have not yet featured much in the way of Ricoh-Minolta comparisons. They have found the Rokkor to be sharp and contrasty, but they also all found noticeable light falloff in the corners, which they said was basically inevitable, given the compact size of the lens and the size restrictions inherent in the original design. Interestingly, though, I can't remember any of the tests on the Ricoh mentioning corner falloff, nor was this mentioned much in the TC-1 P&S camera tests. It's becoming quite a cottage industry in Japan---there are now 5 newish Japanese-made 28mm LTM lenses available: Kobalux, Avenon, Ricoh GR, Minolta G-Rokkor, and the Contax-G Biogon 28/2.8 adapted to LTM (Avenon offers this service for 55,000yen). I did manage to play with a converted Biogon recently---an Avenon focusing helicoil is grafted onto the Biogon, so it does focus with an LTM/LBM rangefinder. Not as compact as the other contenders, but most likely a better performer. Holiday Greeting To All, PB On Sun, 27 Dec 1998 18:08:25 +0000, Alexey Merz <alexey@webcom.com> wrote: >BTW, Ricoh sells the GR-1 28/2/8 lens in an M-mount in Japan. >Has anyone on the LUG tested this lens? Paul C. Brodek Kobe, Japan pcb@iac.co.jp